Incubator



J. D. RAYON Oct. 14, 1930.

INCUBATOR Filed Aug. 25, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet l Jase/1 Ra 1 022 @MWFWMMWPatented Oct. 14, 1930 UNITED STATES PATIENT OFFICE :rosnrrr n. RAYON,or" BEAUMONT, Texas mousn'ron Application filed August 25,1927. SerialNo. 215,456.

1H third,to provide an incubator which automatically transfers the eggsfrom turner trays to hatching trays; fourth, to provide an incubatorwhich automatically discontinues the turning of the eggs at the properperiod of 13 incubation without the necessityof any record -onthe partof the operator; fifth, to' provide "an incubator in which a continuoushatch of chicks "may be most conveniently obtained; sixth, to save laborin the incubation of eggs;

' seventh," to provide a novelly constructed an operated incubator-ofthis class.

"With these'and other objects in view, as will appear. hereinafter, myinvention consists of certain novel features of construction, combifliination and arrangement of parts and portions as will be hereinafterdescribed in detail and particularly set forth in the appende'dclaims,reference being had to the'accompanying drawings and to charactersthereon, which n form a part of this application.

The part of my inventioncomprising the heating, heat controlling,insulating and ventilatingsystems I do not claim to be new. What I"claim to be new are: the egg-testing arrangementin the incubator; theturning device, the automatic device to discontinue'the turning of theeggs at the proper period of incubation and to change the eggs fromturner trays to hatching trays, the novelly. constructed trays. p

' Figure l is a perspective of theincubator; ,Figure 2is .a topsectionplantaken along line 2'2,of Figure'3 Figure 3- is a vertical section;showingthe egg trays. in place; I

Figure. 4 is a perspective of the tracks removedfrom' the incubator;

rFigure' 5 is a perspective of the different I v sections which gotoma'ke up the tray;

and-a separatebottom 45.

gigure 6 is a perspective of the tray frame; Figure"? isa perspective ofa carrier frame.

In the drawings similar reference characters will be used to designatecorrespondingparts thruoutthe several views.

My incubator consists of a long rectangularibox 20, aihotwvatei' heater21, heat-regulating devices 23. The box 20 issupported by legs 32; Theupper portion of the chamber of the box 20 is occupied'by hot waterpipes 22 leadin from the'heater 21. These pipes serve to urnish heattothe incubator.

The incubator box or case has an inspection door 25.- Thermometers 24indicate the temper-atureinside theincubator. The box 20 is properlyinsulated and provided with means to ventilate the same. The portion ofthebox or case 20 next to the heater will be for convenience in'thedescription of the same, called the rear, the opposite portion, thefront. The heater, heatregulators, in-

sulation and ventilation of the incubator bein 'matters well known inthe science of incu ation will for this reason not be minutely describedin this specification.

It is to be understood that other methods of heating my incubator maybeused.

My incubator is preferably operated as a continuous hatching machine. Adaily supply of eggs is inserted in one end of theincubator' and a dailyhatch of chicks is extracted'from'the other end. The daily outputof'chicks does not take place before the incubator has been supplieddaily with eggs for twenty-onedays, the period of incubation for heneggs. I

Theegg tray, which is an important part of my invention, consists of'anopen frame 44 g The frame 44 is partitioned'dnto longitudinal sectionsby means of metal rods secured to said frame.

The bottom 45 consists of a frame structure covered wlth a screensecured to 1t.

The bottom 45 fits-into a removable metal pan 46, screen-side'up. "Thismetal pan serves to catch egg shells and other fine particlesfalling'thru the screen when chicks are hatching in'the tray. The frame44 is placed upon the bottom45-aridthe eggs are placed inrows in thelongitudinal sections. The partitions are so distanced as to admit eggsonly when they 7 are laced len thwise in the sections.

The tray of eggs is inserted at the rear of the incubator box or case 20thru the door 26. The tray of eggs is placed opposite the longitudinaltrack 34,v the longitudinal partitions in the: frame- 44 lyingtransversely to said track. the entire, length of the incubator chamber.

It runs parallel to the incubator floor 49 and above it, leaving an openspace between the bottom of the track and the incubator The track issupported and secured to the incubator floor 49 by means ofthe niem hereand 36 which project above the track 34 and serve as guides for the eggtrays. The first tray of eggs placed in theincubator is not disturbedbefore the next day after it is placed therein. This is the second dayof incubation, vNow, in order to turn the eggs under incubation the trayframe44 is pushed upon the track 34 by means of a metal frame 40.: Fromthis point on' until the eggs cease to turn on the .18th day they areturned through contact With -the-Htrack I34. Said frame is slidablymounted in grooves in the floor49; of the incubator. ;"lhe frame 40 iscaused to travel by mea-n'sof the Windlass 30 secured thereto by meansof the flexible member 48 and which is manually-operated. T he frame 40is so constructed'that it forces only bottom and the surfaceof the track34 are on the same level. So when the tray frame 44 is moved upon thetrack 84 the eggs within'the tray frame are caused to turn or roll. Asit is necessary to'turn eggs under incubation atleast twice aday,morningand evening, thetray frame 44 is caused to travel only half thedistance of its width in themorning andthe other halfdistance in theevening. The width of the tray frame 44 is such that when it travelsthe, distance of half its width the eggs are properly turned. Theaverage hen eggmeasures slightly more than five inches around thecenter. 3 Therefore, to properly turn it, one-half the. egg mustjberolled sidewise slightly more than two and one-half inches,or slightlymore thanseven' and one-half inches, etc.- The frame 40, afterhavingmoved-the tray frame44 upon the track -34, is, returned to itsformer position. This is accomplished by. reversing the windlass30,.ithecoil spring 39, having. one end secured to the floor of theincubator chamber and theother end to the frame 40, pulls the .fr'amej40to itsoriginal position. Having moved the tray of eggs upon'the track 34and after removing from the incubator the tray .bottomf used withthe-said tray of eggsinow on the track there isan openspace'to insertanother tray, of eggs. The next tray of. eggs s ifi t dafteli a g turnd. t e ggs. on

The track 34 extends nearly the evening of the second day and the samethe egg tray first inserted is now resting on the track and the traybottom originally inserted with the first egg tray is no longer 1n theincubator. On the third ,day. the eggs are turned as described for thesecond day. By inserting daily a new tray of eggs as described the eggson the track 34 are caused to travel forward-by the force impartedagainst the tray acted upon by the tray frame4Gi By'this means it isobvious that all the eggs on thetrack, aswell as those in the newly in-"serted' tray, are moved and properly turned in amass. On the twelfthday after a trayjf of eggs is inserted in the incubator the tray reachesa glass section 37 in the'track 34. This glasssection is in the sameplane with the surface of the track 34 so that the trays and eggs maytravel freely over it. Beneath this glass section 37 is a battery ofpowerful electric light bulbs 88. By turning on the light the eggs onthe glass section are illuminated. Thru the door 29 all the bad eggs maybedetectedand manually removed from the incubator. Whenthe first tray ofeggs inserted in the incubator reaches the end of the track 34, which isafter the turning of the eggs-on the evening ofthe seventeenth day 01their incubation, the tray frame comes in contact with themetalcarrier/ll- The carrier 41 is slidably mounted on the floor .oftheincubator, the side membersrunning in longitudinal grooves in the floorof the incubator. This carrier carries four tray bottoms 45, togetherwith pans 46, it. "These tray bottomsincluding pans are placedin thecarrier thru the door 28. When the tray frame, which comes in. contactwith the carrier 41,- is moved-beyond the end of thetrack 34 it pushesthe slidablecarrier 41 along with it. As the eggs rolloff of the track34 they tray of eggs which was inserted in'the incubator is lying on atray bottom 45 in carrier .41. Just as theeggs leave thestationary track34the eggs cease turning, they simply move on with the tray franieandtray 'bottom. Thus,- the eggs are autoniatically changed fromturnertrays to hatching trays. After on the evening of thetwenty-firstday I of incubation thefirsttray of eggs which was insertedin the incubator will have reached the extreme end of the incubatorchamber.

The'eggs in the tray will be hatched and lid ing the chicks is movedthru the door 27, within reach of the operator. After extracting thetray of chicks the arm 33 is returned to its former position. A space inthe carrier 11 will result from the removal of the tray of chicks. Bypulling the carrier ll, by means of the manually operated Windlass 31,toward the rear of the incubator the space left in the carrier due totheremoval of the tray of chicks is taken up and the same amount of spacemade at the opposite end of the carrier. It is to be understood that theside members of the carrier 41 do not come in contact with the undersurfaces of the tray pans contained therein. The trays slide upon thefloor of the incubator. The depth of the grooves in which the frame llslides permits it to move freely without coming in contact with thebottoms of the trays. lifter taking up the space left in the carrierafter the removal of the tray of chicks another tray bottom 45positioned in a pan 46 is inserted in the carrier thru the door 2 8.Thus a tray of chicks is daily removed from the incubator, a tray bottomsupplied to the hatching trays, a new tray ofeggs inserted in theincubator. If it is desired to discontinue hatching, ein ity It is to beunderstood that the incubator may be so designed as to receive anynumber of trays daily. The partition i7 serves to retain moisture forthe eggs in the hatching trays, forming a hatching chamber in theincubator.

It is to be understood that the form of my invention herein shownanddescribed is to be taken as a preferred embodiment of the same, and thatvarious changes in the shape,

size and arrangement of parts, may be resorted to, which do not departfrom the spirit of m r invention or the sco e of the sub-'oined claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. An incubator for the batching of eggs of domestic fowls, or otherbirds, com- 'prising a case,'means for supplying heat to said case, astationary surface inside said case over which eggs are rolled in theprocess of turningthem, means to illuminate eggs on'said surface for thepurpose of testing them, means for rolling said eggs over said surface,and for separating the eggs in groups, means for moving egg trays alongsaid surface and from-said surface on to hottoms, said bottoms movingalong with said frames so as to prevent rotation and thereby forminghatching trays instead of turner trays.

2. An incubator for thehatching of eggs of domestic fowls, or otherbirds, comprising a case, means for supplying heat to said case, door insaid case through which to insert eggs in egg trays, and ascreened framepositioned screen side up in a metal pan with tl e eg trays propersuperimposed upon the screen frame and constructed to exposethe bottomof the eggs in contact with the screen side of the screened frame, aframe attached to a Windlass for pushing the said egg trays "egg tray, aWindlass for returning the frame to its initial position upontheforemost egg "tray and tray bottom being removed from the incubator,and means comprising an arm for removing said. foremost egg tray andtray bottom from the incubator. v i

3. In an incubator, a track, a plurality of egg trays constructed toexpose the bottomof the eggs, whereby the eggs will engage the track,means for advancing the trays over the track whereby the eggs will beadvanced and 1 rotated and means adapted to be interposed between theegg trays and the bottom of the incubator to advance with the trays,i'vhereby theeg 's can be advaii'ced without rotation.

l. In an incubator, a track, a plurality of egg trays constructed toeirpose the bottom of the eggs, whereby the eggs will engage the tracltray advancing means adapted to con"- tact with and advanceone tray andby contact of said tray to advance the other contacting trays, and meansadapted to be interposed ata predetermined point between the eggs andthe bottom of the incubator to advance with he trays, whereby the can beadvanced without rotation.

5. In an incubator, a track, a plurality of egg trays constructed toexpose the bottom of the eggs, whereby the eggs will engage the track,tray advancing means adapted to contact with and advance one tray and bycontact of said tray to advance the other contacting trays, meansadapted to be interposed at a predetermined point between the egg traysand the bottom of the incubator to advance with the trays, whereby theeggs can be advanced without rotation, and means for removing said eggtrays and interposed means from the incubator after hatching.

6. In an incubator, a track, a plurality of egg trays constructed toexpose the bottom of the eggs whereby the eggs will engage the track, areciprocating tray advancing means whereby the eggs will be advanced androtated, means adapted to be interposed between the egg trays and bottomof the incubator to advance with the trays, means for advancing saidinterposed means with the advancement of said egg trays and means forremoving said egg trays and interposed means from the incubator afterhatching.

'7. In an incubator, a track, a plurality of egg'trays constructed toexpose the bottom of the eggs, wherebythe eggs will engage the track, atray advancing means whereby the eggs will be advanced and rotated, aplurality of tray bottoms to be interposed between the egg trays and thebottom of the incubator, means propelled by the foremost egg tray foradvancing the plurality of tray bottoms. a

8. In an incubator, a track, a plurality of egg trays constructed toexpose the bottom of the eggs, whereby the eggs will engage the track, atray advancing means whereby the eggs will be advanced and rotated, aplurality of tray bottoms to be interposed between the egg trays and thebottom of the incubator, means propelled by the foremost egg tray foradvancing the plurality of tray bottoms, and means for returning themeans used for advancing the tray bottom to its initial position uponthe removal of the foremost tray bottom and egg tray from the incubator,after hatching.

9 In an incubator, a track, a plurality of egg trays constructed toexpose the bottom of the eggs, whereby the eggs will engage the track, atray advancing means whereby the eggs will be advanced and rotated, aplurality of tray bottoms i-to-be interposed between the egg trays'andthe bottom of the incubator, means propelled by the foremost egg trayfor advancing the plurality 0]": tray bottoms, and means for returningthe means 7 used for advancing the tray bottom to its initial positionand means for removing said tray bottoms and egg trays from theincubator after hatching.

In testimony WhereofI afiix my signature. 7

VJOSIEPHID. RAYON.

